My interview with Alicia ironically fell on the day Carrie Prejean was fired from her post as Miss California. Despite the controversial comments she made regarding gay marriage (the quotes heard 'round the world), she was actually fired for breach of contract. Alicia, as you know by now, was a judge for the event. She's no stranger to the pageant circuit herself - she's been both Miss Nevada USA and Miss United States. Needless to say, she knows what she's talking about! Alicia was scheduled to appear on Larry King's show, directly before meeting me. Unfortunately she was bumped at the last minute, but here's some prior footage regarding the same topic. I have no doubt that she'll have another opportunity to sit at the round table again in the future! I know this information may seem a bit dated at this point, due to the fast paced nature of the gossip world - but there are a lot of interesting details contained in the interview below. Please read and enjoy!
Jenna Zine: So, what do you think? I know you're probably done talking about it, but what do you think about the whole Carrie Prejean scandal?
Alicia Jacobs: We'll never be done talking about it! [laughter]
JZ: We've learned today that she's been fired, not for the comments but for the breach of contract.
AJ: Absolutely! And justifiably. You know what? I'm proud of the organization, I'm proud of Donald Trump and The Miss Universe Organization that they took a stance. They were kind enough to give her a second chance. She was in breach of contract once. She had semi-nude photos, which automatically broke the rules. They gave her another chance but said, at the very least, that she needed to abide by her contract and act as Miss California USA and do her job. At the end of the day it's a job and a responsibility. And she refused to that - she had her own agenda and her own appearances, refused to do any appearances in Hollywood. She wouldn't do any red carpet. She thought she was too good for that, above that. The Miss California people were confused. They had obligations to fulfill and a person who wasn't willing to do them. They had no choice. They literally had to replace her with someone who wanted to work. If you don't want to do the job, step aside and let somebody else do it.
JZ: That doesn't make any sense. Who wouldn't want to do those things? Especially having gone so far within the pageant system, who wouldn't be expecting that?
AJ: I think she became a little delusional and a little impressed with herself and all the attention she got so quickly. She thought she was above all of that. Well, guess what? You're not. None of us are. You learn this - and I've been there too, I've been in pageants - it's wonderful when you have the crown. But the day you give it up? Guess what! [laughter] You're not so special anymore. And unless you've done a lot to solidify yourself and worked hard to create something, you don't have much left at the end of that year. I'm not sure she caught on to that.
JZ: She's very young, but also I don't think the reality hit her. There was obviously a huge media storm from the comments she made, but no one would have paid attention to her otherwise. I don't think those comments were calculated but she certainly garnered a lot of attention, for a time.
AJ: I think it surprised her as much as it surprised everyone there. But she said it, she obviously meant it and she had to stand up. I do credit her with standing by what she said that night at the pageant. I don't agree with it, but I give her credit for standing by her words.
JZ: It's a really sticky situation. Her views aren't in line with mine, but I do feel people should be able to express their opinions.
AJ: Absolutely. Especially with what you and I do for a living, it's paramount that we can speak our minds. Freedom of speech is huge.
JZ: We wouldn't be anywhere without it! So, I'd like to follow up with your Larry King interview.
AJ: I did Headline News today and I'm doing Showbiz Tonight tomorrow. Apparently people care what I think! It's so funny to me because as a reporter I'm not used to giving my opinion. I state the facts. Once in awhile I'll throw in a little comment here or there because you can get away with that in entertainment news. But all of the sudden people want to know what I think personally. It's fun! It's scary sometimes, I hope I don't say the wrong thing. But it's fun and it's another side of this whole business that we're in.
JZ: It's pretty amazing. I haven't watched the pageants in a long time and I happened to be in Montreal at the time. It was the only thing on television that was not in French. So I started watching it, because my French is terrible. I happened to be watching at that moment [when Carrie Prejean answered the gay marriage question] and I was blown away. I've been following it ever since. It must have been amazing to have actually been there.
AJ: It was crazy because I was sitting next to Perez [Hilton] and I'll never forget it. My first reaction was to look immediately at Perez. Thank god I wasn't on television at that moment. I would have looked like an idiot, the way my head snapped. [laughter] He looked like he'd just lost his best friend. And you're not used to seeing Perez Hilton with that kind of reaction. Usually he's very confident and very sure of himself and I think even he was floored. And hurt. We cut to a commercial break after that and he was like, "Wow." I looked at him and said, "I know! I can't believe she said that." He was upset. We drove back to the hotel together afterwards and he was upset. He got carried away, I think, on his website. But you know what? This is a very emotional issue for him and it's something that inevitably he's going to face at some point in his life. He's going to want to get married. I'm sure it's something he thinks about often and it was hurtful.
JZ: It's a very intense subject. It's going to bring it all up again for Carrie [Prejean] because of the media coverage of her getting fired.
AJ: Now she can speak as much as she wants! [laughter]
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